No further riots have occurred in London this week, and
apparently the police have regained control of the situation. A meeting of the unemployed was called in Hyde Park on Sunday, and another in Cumberland Market on Tuesday ; but neither of them came to anything. The few Socialists, indeed, appear to be cowed, and the real workmen are so opposed to the rioters, that on Wednesday a Revolutionist who made a furious speech to a meeting in Hackney had his clothes torn to shreds on his back. Riots of an aggravated character have occurred in Leicester, but they were directed by men on strike against a few factories ; and riots by the unemployed in Birmingham have been mastered by the municipal authorities, who, however, have been compelled to prohibit public meetings in open spaces after dark. We do not see, we confess, why that precaution should fiat be made universal. If the people wish to deliberate, they can do it best under cover; and if they wish to "demonstrate," which is, no doubt, occasionally either useful or necessary, they must desire their numbers to be seen. Darkness is the opportunity of the criminal classes, and it is hard to expose the police to night attacks by masses. Since the riots, the charitable efforts to relieve the unemployed have greatly increased, and the Mansion House Fund for their benefit has augmented at a rapid rate, so that it now reaches 252,000. The great need now is a more rapid and certain system of inquiry and distribution.
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